Doctor Who Missing Episodes (1963-1974)
The appropriately dubbed ''Doctor Who ''Missing Episodes are a collection of 97 episodes of the British sci-fi television series that were wiped by the BBC between 1963 and 1974 (as old reels would often be wiped for new material instead of buying expensive new reels), and thus have not been seen since their original airing. In addition to the completely lost episodes during the First and Second Doctor's runs, there are some episodes from the Third Doctor's run that no longer exist in their original color format, although they do exist in black-and-white versions, and have subsequently been restored to full colour. After the BBC came to their senses in 1974, they decided to start searching for the episodes that they had lost by attempting to gain the co-operation of private collectors and probing the television stations that they had loaned tapes to (tapes that had, as of then, not yet been returned). Through these methods the BBC has managed to recover 50 episodes over the years (most recently in October 2013), including nine full missing serials. A total of 26 serials still remain incomplete, 10 of which are completely missing from the BBC archives. Still publicity photographs, scenes cut for censorship reasons, on-set footage and audio recordings for some of the remaining lost episodes still survive and were released by the BBC in a 2004 DVD boxset which once sparked rumors of a special-edition release in the summer of 2014.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_in_Time_(Doctor_Who) Wikipedia page on the 2004 DVD boxset Lost in Time.] Retrieved 22 May '13. Of the 91 missing episodes, only one is confirmed to have no chance of recovery. This would be episode 7 of "The Daleks' Master Plan", a Christmas special which only aired once. Because the episode had no relevance to the plot, there were no film copies made. As a result, it was never offered to overseas broadcasters like all other episodes. It was destroyed for good in the second round of wiping on August 17th, 1967. It is widely rumoured that following the October 2013 reveal of missing episodes (announcement below), more are to come in coming months, potentially restoring the majority of missing episodes. UPDATE 10 Oct '13: Rumours have been abundant over the past few days, regarding reports that two previously lost episodes had been found (supposedly taken from the rumoured haul of 100+ episodes allegedly found in Zambia earlier this year). Well, today the BBC have confirmed the exact details of the find: NINE episodes have been rediscovered - the remaining five "The Enemy of the World" episodes (ie. 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6), and four of the five missing "The Web of Fear" episodes (ie. 2, 4, 5 and 6) - all of which have since been made available for digital purchase on iTunes!!! The episodes were originally rediscovered by TV archive recovery expert Phillip Morris, at a local TV station in Nigeria, and there have even been hints from the BBC that there may be more to come (further perpetuating the rumour of the Zambian episode haul). UPDATE March 28, 2015: Could this be false hope? Earlier this year, a Reddit user claimed that his friend's grandfather had Episodes 1-4 of "Marco Polo" on VHS tapes in an old barn on his property, along with other already found episodes. After a few days, the tapes were allegedly delivered to the BBC, however, it should be noted that they have not made a announcement on this subject as of yet. '''UPDATE October 17, 2016: '''The BBC recently announced that an animated version of the serial "The Power of the Daleks" is in the making. Which you could buy and download on the BBC Store website. Only available to citizens of the UK till the 14th of November. List of Missing Episodes References External Links The Destruction Of Time, A deeper look into the lost episodes. Category:Lost TV Category:Partially Found Media Category:Lost BBC